Hotels to Operate at 50% Capacity, 20 People at Funeral: After BMC, Now Nagpur Issues COVID Guidelines

Coronavirus in Maharashtra: The development comes after Nagpur reported 644 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Thursday while the tally of infections in the district reached 1,41,028. Six patients had died of the infection and 250 were discharged from various treatment facilities.

Coronavirus in Maharashtra: Taking preventive measures against the spread of coronavirus in the area, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Friday tightened the Covid-19 regulations in the area to bring down the sudden spurt in cases. As per the new guidelines issued by the NMC, now hotels will function only with 50% capacity; buildings with more than five positive cases will be sealed.

Furthermore, the guidelines stated that people under home quarantine would be stamped on their hands and not more than 20 people will be allowed for last rites.

The development comes after Nagpur reported 644 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Thursday while the tally of infections in the district reached 1,41,028. Six patients had died of the infection and 250 were discharged from various treatment facilities.

It was more worrisome when Maharashtra after a gap of 75 days reported more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, a sizable number of them coming from Akola and Nagpur divisions. With 5,427 new cases, the caseload in the state rose to 20,81,520 while 38 fatalities took the death toll due to the pandemic to 51,669.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar and other top officials discussed the developing grim situation in the state and issued directions to implement the stern measures immediately.

As cases suddenly spiked in the Mumbai city and suburbs, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner IS Chahal announced a series of stringent measures, surveillance and reviewed the bed strength of the jumbo field hospitals set up last year.

The civic chief has ordered that if more than 5 cases are detected in any building, it will be sealed and all under home quarantine would be stamped on the hand by the BMC staff.

The BMC will also focus on wedding halls, gymkhanas, gymnasiums, clubs, restaurants, cinemas, public gardens, playgrounds, malls and even private offices to ensure people strictly adhere to the norms. Besides Mumbai, the other target areas are Akola, Yavatmal and Amravati – the last two reportedly having new virus strains which are yet to be confirmed officially.

The Collectors of Akola, Yavatmal and Amravati have been directed to declare areas with high incidence of Covid-19 cases in their jurisdictions as “containment zones”.

These include the Amravati Municipal Corporation and Achalpur town, Yavatmal town, Pusad and Pandharkawada, and Akola Municipal Corporation, Murtizapur and Akot towns.